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Moby Dick

Play trailer Poster for Moby Dick 1956 1h 56m Adventure Play Trailer Watchlist
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81% Tomatometer 26 Reviews 73% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
Capt. Ahab (Gregory Peck) has a vendetta against Moby Dick, the great white whale responsible for taking his leg. He sets out on a treacherous sea voyage aboard The Pequod, along with a crew including Starbuck (Leo Genn), Father Mapple (James Robertson Justice) and Ishmael (Richard Basehart), to hunt down the elusive beast. With reckless abandon, Ahab leads the crew on his obsessive and suicidal quest, anxious for a final showdown with the legendary white whale.
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Moby Dick

Moby Dick

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Critics Consensus

It may favor spectacle in place of the deeper themes in Herman Melville's novel, but John Huston's Moby Dick still makes for a grand movie adventure.

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Critics Reviews

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Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader 08/05/2011
One could have plenty of quarrels with this as an adaptation of the Herman Melville novel, but it's still one of the better John Huston films of the 50s. Go to Full Review
TIME Magazine 08/05/2011
Moby Dick is certainly the most unusual picture of the year and may well be the best. Go to Full Review
Ian Nathan Empire Magazine 04/05/2011
3/5
The film takes flight as a grand chase movie, and leaves its ambition in its wake. Go to Full Review
Francois Truffaut Arts (France) 02/14/2024
Too often, John Huston offers us, instead of creatures made of flesh and blood, only colorless beings who come onto the screen to deliver one or two aphorisms before going out of focus. Go to Full Review
Matt Brunson Film Frenzy 05/09/2023
3/4
Director John Huston and screenwriter Ray Bradbury teamed up (and feuded aplenty) to wrestle Herman Melville’s literary classic Moby-Dick to the screen, with results both fascinating and flawed. Go to Full Review
Eddie Harrison film-authority.com 12/30/2022
4/5
…a neglected masterpiece… Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Annie V Oct 21 Gregory Peck on one of his best performances See more Stephen C @bob25009 Aug 15 Success in 1 hour and 56 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See more Michael C Jun 1 So Awful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See more Alec B Apr 6 Ultimately a mixed bag. I like certain scenes and the cinematography. Peck was unfortunately too young for the part (not awful but he's clearly trying too hard) which is noticeably distracting. See more Blu B Mar 18 A Classic Adventure flick and the best film adaptation of the classic novel. Cinematogrpahy is excellent. The location, color, costumes are all really good with great direction by Huston. The classical golden era way this is done also really helps given this is a 1800's novel. Something that it feels like all other adaptations on film miss. The special effects are really clean too. Minitures, stock footage, on location effects are all so cleanly edited especially in the end too. The fact most of this is actually on a ship too in the ocean really brings this to life and gives something tangible that a lot of others miss with majority sound stage and green screen. Everything else is really good. Peck is phenominal in this. Easily one of his best performances of his career. If there is one area where this struggles slightly is once they are in pursuit it feels like chracter development moments in the novel are missing. It's there but you can tell the main focus is Peck and everything else is secondary. Given how large the novel is I don't know how'd you'd really fix that for a movie. The 98' mini series is better served for that and arguably better apples to oranges. It's pretty cool too how despite the english being old time I can still understand pretty much 90-95% of what there saying and where I can't the visuals on screen make up for it. It's a great tale and still delivers the message of revenge can destroy others around you as much as you. Anyone who is a fan of the novel, any actors in this, Huston, movies on ships, or adventures should check this out. See more Janet V Mar 12 Classic in every way! See more Read all reviews
Moby Dick

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Movie Info

Synopsis Capt. Ahab (Gregory Peck) has a vendetta against Moby Dick, the great white whale responsible for taking his leg. He sets out on a treacherous sea voyage aboard The Pequod, along with a crew including Starbuck (Leo Genn), Father Mapple (James Robertson Justice) and Ishmael (Richard Basehart), to hunt down the elusive beast. With reckless abandon, Ahab leads the crew on his obsessive and suicidal quest, anxious for a final showdown with the legendary white whale.
Director
John Huston
Producer
John Huston
Screenwriter
Herman Melville, Ray Bradbury, John Huston
Distributor
Warner Bros. Pictures, United Artists, MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc., Warner Home Vídeo
Production Co
Moulin Productions Inc.
Genre
Adventure
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jun 27, 1956, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 13, 2017
Runtime
1h 56m
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